Since my surgery I've been desperate to start getting fit and work towards going back to the dance studio, surfing waves and back up the climbing wall.

Getting the motivation to start has been hard. It's amazing how much muscle mass you lose after surgery, being laid up for months doesn't help either! Since beginning to exercise again post surgery, I've quickly found out that things I could do easily before all this are now way to advanced for me, so it's back to basics.

A week ago I met with a new Physiotherapist who I know I'm going to get along with. She's great and really pushing me to get my mobility up.

So with a new plan and set of exercises in place here's my routine that's getting me back in shape, and my movement back to normal.

EATING

I always try to eat a good balanced diet and drink at least 2L of water every day. Sure, I have the occasional snack but most of the time I cook healthy varied meals to keep things interesting. At the moment I'm loving making a smoothie every morning before I get out for a walk. My favourite at the moment is Raspberry and Cranberry. It's really simple to make, just a handful or frozen raspberries, a generous heap of Greek yoghurt, full fat milk, a squeeze of honey and all topped off with Cranberry juice. A great mix of sugars, carbs, proteins and healthy fats, a great start to the day.

YOGA

I've wanted to take up yoga for so long but with my hip condition yoga it wasn't an option for me before surgery. Now, hunting around online I've found loads of yoga videos for people recovering from hip replacement surgery so I was so happy to be able to incorporate them into my routine. Yoga either makes it into my routine first thing in the morning to wake me up or just before I go to bed to stretch out and calm my mind after a long day. At the moment I can only do very basic exercises but I look forward to building on these as my fitness increases.

STRETCHING

These are all the moves I need to do for my Physiotherapy. I try to do these at least twice a day. Once mid morning, and once in the afternoon to break up my working day. They only take 5-6 minutes so its really easy to add them into my normal daily routine and I can really feel the burn. My muscles are finally responding!

In my Physio routine at the moment, I do:

10 wall support squats

10 front lying leg raises on both legs

10 back lying leg raises on both legs

10 hip raises

10 sitting left thigh muscle tenses with a rolled towel under my knee

2 reps of 5 hip raises with a left leg lift and 5 with a right leg lift

10 heel stretches lowering from a step

10 pull backs with a band around a banister post10 second lying knee hugs, and a further 10 seconds with my operated leg stretched over the side of a bed/table

WALKING

My daily walk is my favourite part of my routine. Over the weeks I've increased it and can now manage a good 45 minute walk every morning before I start my day. With my headphones in or the sound of the birds, I have loved walking around the parks and the seafront of my coastal home town. When I finally move to the big city, I won't have much more of the seaside but I'm really looking forward to stretching my legs in the many parks around London.

SLEEPING

In order to keep up my energy and motivation I make sure that as often as possible I get a healthy 8 hours sleep every day and have a pint of water first thing in the morning and right before I go to bed. The added exercise in my day really helps to make my sleep more rewarding because my body is actually tired by the end of the day!

I'm pleased to say that for the most part I've done really well to keep up with my routine and I'm really beginning to feel the difference in my muscle strength and support around my hip. My flexibility is still taking a while to improve but with some determination I know I can do it.

Have you picked up any new fitness habits this year?

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About Post Author

Thea is an Academic, a Crafter and a Musician from the West coast of Wales. She documents her trials and tribualtions as she wanders the maze of challenges that life presents, all while travelling the world and pursuing her dreams.